Electric block-signal for railways.



PATENTED MAY 8, 1906.

W. E. SANDS.

ELECTRIC BLOCK SIGNAL FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-18. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1,

WITNESSES fi- W2 mnRiw a, GRAHAM co. PNO'DLHHOQRAPNERS. WASNWGYON. u. c,

No. 819,808 PATENTED MAY 8, 1906.

W. E. SANDS. ELECTRIC BLOCK SIGNAL FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MAE.18. 1905.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

TZIdJW/i? 2w: Z, Z

wlmEssEsmy: on a "Tomlin;

ANDREW. a umum co mowgmocmmms. waswnm'om n c U ITED STATES PATENTOFFIOE.

WVALTER E. SANDS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE L. A.

THOMPSON SCENIC RAILWAY COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A OOR PORATION OFNEW JERSEY.

ELECTRIC BLOCK-SIGNAL F OR RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 8,- 1906.

Application filed March 18, 1905. Serial No. 250,702.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVALTER E. SANDS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Block-Signals forRailways, of which the following is afull, clear,

and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification.

My invention has for its object certain improvements in electricblock-signals, in which the road is divided up into sections and a trainin a given section arranges an electric circuit in such a manner that asignal is set against a following train and said train approaching saidsection will be given a signal on the car or engine and at the same timestart a signal at the side of the track. When the first-mentioned trainor car has passed beyond the first-mentioned section, the electricarrangements are reversed, the following section receives a clearsignaland the electrical arrangement is such that a car approaching thatsection will no longer act to signal on the car or at the side of thetrack.

I will first describe my invention as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and then point out the invention in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of my invention,showing tracks, circuits, signals, &c. Fig. 2 is a section through thecar and rails.

A is a wire leading from one pole of the source of current-supply. B isa wire leading from the other pole of the source of ourrent-supply. Fromthe wire A extends a wire a to solenoid-magnet C and a wire a to thesolenoid-magnet O. The armatures of these magnets are connected by thebar 0. From the magnet O extends a wire a to railsection D of thetrack-rails. From the solenoid-magnet O extends a wire a to railsectionD. Between the two solenoid-magnets O O is the long contact 0 and theshort contacts 0 and 0 A wire a connects the contact O with the wire a.A wire a connects the contact 0 with the lights E, which are white orsafety lights. A wire a connects these lights with the wire B. Awire aconnects the contact 0 with the lights E, which are red or dangerlights, which lights E are also connected to the wire a. The wire Bextends to the third rail F. An alarm G is connected by wire withtrack-section G by wire G and said alarm G is also connected to wire a.Wire (1 by wire a is connected-to rail-section H. Wire B is alsoconnected by wire a with rail-section 1. Wire B is also connected bywire a with rail-section J. X, Y, and Z, respectively, representsections of the railway.

The arrangement of currents just described is such, as will hereinafterbe specifically described, that when the advance car is on section X thefollowing car on sectionZ receives a white lights and no signal is rungon the road or car. If, however, the advance car is on section Y, thefollowing car on Z as it approaches Y sees a red signal and will alsoring an alarm by the road and on the car. I will now specificallydescribe how this is done with the described circuits. Supposing theadvance car to be in section X, the wheels on rail-sections D and I,under these conditions the car through wires a, a and a, completes acircuit to solenoid-magnet O, which energizes the magnet and causes itsarmature to connect contacts a and 0 At the same time the connectionbetween contacts a and c is broken. The white lamps are lighted throughthe wire A, wire a, contact 0, contact 0 wire a Wire a, and wire B. Atthe same time the circuit, including the alarm G and the third rail F,are open byreason of the connection of wire a with wire a, and wire A isbroken by reason of the armature of magnet C no longer bridging saidcontacts. If, however, the advance car is in section Y and overrailsection D and J, then the circuit to solenoid C is completed throughwire A, wire a, wire'- a rail-sectlon D, car,'ra1l-sect1on J, wire awlre B, and the magnet O 1S energized,

causing its armature to bridge the contacts 0 and c completing a circuitto dangerlights E through wire a, contact 0., contact 0 wire a wire a,and wire B. At this time the connection between contact a and c isbroken. Thus a danger-signal is set against a following car approachingthis section. Further, when the car-wheels are on sections G and H acircuit is completed to the alarm G through the sectional rail G, thewire G and a to wire B, and from wire A through wire a, contacts 0 0wire a, wire a to rail-section H through car to rail-section G. Therail-section G is made quite short, so as not to continue to ring thealarm for any substantial period. During these conditions also whenabrush L, carried by the car, touches and travels over the third-rai1section F that third-rail section is connected by the wires Z with lampsM M and bell-magnet N and also connects said devices with the wheel 0 ofthe car, which travels on the rail-section H. Thus so long as the wheelis on rail-section H and the brush L on third rail F a circuit iscompleted, through wires A a, contacts c 6 wire a, wire a ,rail-sectionH, car-wheel, lam s, and bell-magnet in car, to brush L, thir rail F,wire B. The extent of third rail F and rail-section H determine theduration of the alarm and lighting on the car. The conditions justdescribed remain until the advance car has passed through section Y andhas reached the rail-sections D and I of section X.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire toprotect by Letters Patent,is-

1. In combination, a source of current-supply, a railway-track having,at two points thereof, 0 posite rail-sections, one rail-section at eacpoint being electrically connected to one pole of the current-supply andthe other to the other pole, a solenoid for each track-point, twosignals, an electric circuit for each signal, one including the armaturewhen one solenoid is energized and the other the armature when the othersolenoid is energized, the energizing of each solenoid closing thecircuit to its corresponding signal.

2. In combination, a source of current-sup-- ply, a railway-trackhaving, at two points thereof, opposite rail-sections, one rail-sectionat each point being electrically connected to one pole of thecurrent-supply and the other to the other pole, a solenoid for eachtrack-point, two signals, an electric circuit for each signal, oneincluding the armature when one solenoid is energized and the other thearmature when the other solenoid is energized, said solenoids beingoppositely placed, the energizing of one solenoid closing the circuit toits corresponding signal, and opening the circuit to the other signal.

3. In combination, a source of current-supply, a railway-track having,at two points thereof, 0 posite rail-sections, one rail-section at eacpoint being electrically connected to one pole of the current-supply andthe other to the other pole, a solenoid for each track-point, a contactin electrical connection with one pole of source of current-supply, asecond contact, a signal in electrical connection with said contact andthe other pole of current-supply, a third contact, a second signal inelectrical connection with the third contact and the last-mentioned poleof ourrent-supply, the armature when one solenoid is energlzed beingadapted to connect the first and second contacts, and the armature whenthe other solenoid is energized being adapted to connect the first andthird contacts.

4. In combination, a source of current-supply, a railway-track having,at two points thereof, opposite rail-sections, one rail-section at eachpoint being electrically connected to one pole of the current-supply andthe other to the other pole, a solenoid for each track-point, a contactin electrical connection with one pole of source of current-supply, asecond contact, a signal in electrical connection with said contact andthe other pole of current-supply, a third contact, a second signal inelectrlcal connectionwith the third contact and the last-mentioned poleof currentsupply, the armature when one solenoid is energized beingadapted to connect the first and second contacts, and the armature whenthe other solenoid is energized being adapted to connect the first andthird contacts, said solenoids being oppositely laced and connected,whereby, when one so enoid is energized, the circuit to itscorresponding signal is closed and the circuit to the other signalopened.

5. In combination, a source of current-supply and a railway-track, acontact in electrical connection with one ole of currentsupply, a secondcontact in e ectrical connection with a rail-section, a signal inelectrical connection with an opposite rail-section at that point andwith the other pole of the current-supply, a solenoid adapted whenenergized to connect said contacts, an electrical circuit including saidsolenoid and opposite track-sections at a point in advance of thefirst-mentioned track-sections.

6. In combination, a source of current-supply and a railway-track, acontact in elec trical connection with one ole of currentsupply, asecond contact in e ectrical connection with a rail-section, a signal inelectrical connection with an opposite rail-section at that point andwith the other pole of the current-supply, a solenoid adapted whenenergized to connect said contacts, an electric circuit including saidsolenoid and opposite track-sections at a point in advance of thefirst-mentioned track-sections, and means to release the last-mentionedsolenoid-armature at the desired oint on the tracli.

7. In comblnation, a railway, an electric circuit, a signal in saidcircuit, a switch in said circuit, an electric device controlling saidswitch, an electric circuit for said electric device including oppositerail-sections, a

"second circuit, a signal in said second circuit,

a switch for said second circuit, an electric circuit for said secondcircuit-switch including opposite track-sections in advance of thefirst-mentioned track-sections, said switches being connected togetherso that the energizing of one electric switch-controlling device actsoppositely upon the two switches.

8. In combination a source of current-supply, a railway-track, a car orcars thereon, a signal in electrical connection with a tracksection andone pole of the source of currentsupply, a second rail-section inelectrical connection with the other pole of current-supply, a switch onsaid connection, an electrical device controlling said switch, anelectric circuit including said electric switch-controlling device andopposite track-sections at a point in advance of the first-mentionedtrack-section, a device carried by the car adapted to make connectionwith the rail-section and electrical connections in the car, including asignal or signals between said device and the wheel adapted to travel onthe first-men tioned track-section.

9. In combination, a source of current-supply, a railway-track, a car orcars thereon, a signal in electrical connection with a tracksection andone pole of the source of currentsupply, a second rail-section inelectrical connection with the other pole of current-supply, a switch onsaidconnection, an electrical device controlling said switch, anelectric circuit including said electric switch-controlling device andopposite track-sections at a point in advance of the first-mentionedtrack-sections, a device carried by the car adapted to make connectionwith the rail WALTER E. SANDS.

Witnesses:

EDWARD W. DITMARS, A. F. TURPIN.

